The goal of the tour was to help attendees better understand how valuable rural Districts are within their respective communities. For example, in Corning, the District’s Meuser Memorial Health Center is one of the only resources for medical services within the city limits. With a focus on preventive medicine, the District is helping to mitigate how often residents need to travel to Red Bluff or Chico – a 25-minute or 40-minute drive, respectfully – for emergency care.

As the Advocacy team traveled farther northeast, the importance of rural Districts became increasingly clear. Both Mayers and Last Frontier are considered “frontier” Districts, located within some of Northern California’s most remote areas. They own and operate critical access hospitals that serve geographically large yet sparsely populated areas. Both Districts mentioned that they are situated at least 90 minutes away from the next closest hospital, which – in some instances – may be out of state. However, out-of-state facilities don’t accept Medi-Cal patients, making the District’s facilities even more critical. Further, when you factor in that winter weather often shuts down the area’s roads and grounds helicopters, it’s apparent that these Districts are invaluable.

As part of each visit, the Advocacy team asked about the challenges the Districts currently face. We anticipated differing responses, but trends quickly emerged. Overall, reimbursement is a key issue, as well as physician recruitment and retention. The Districts also expressed that Covered California has introduced a significant amount of uncertainly, especially as it pertains to reimbursement – which brought the conversations full circle.